Do-or-Die Movement Against GTA

The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad today said it would organise a movement from April 1, demanding immediate dissolution of the territory committee. It will also launch a “do-or-die” movement, if necessary, to prevent inclusion of even an inch of land from the plains in the hill set-up.


“We will write to the government on March 27, demanding dissolution of the committee,” said Atul Roy, the president of the Kamtapur Progressive Party, one of the 19 organisations that held a meeting with the Parishad today.

Parishad leader Rajesh Lakra said: “If any decision is thrust on us, we will launch a do-or-die movement across the Terai and Dooars and Siliguri and will never give an inch of land.”

AIGL apprehends corruption in GTA

The All India Gorkha League (AIGL) leadership has sounded apprehensive that corruption would scale new heights in the Darjeeling Hills after the GTA is constituted.


“The portents are ominous. It is an open secret across the Hills that the GJMM satraps and the party’s rank and file have embezzled a greater portion of the Centre-allocated funds meant for the Aila victims. The former Left Front government and the DGHC administration connived with the GJMM in the embezzlement game. Now things are far worse, as the Trinamul Congress-led state government looks desperate to humour the principal party in the Hills,” said the AIGL secretary, Mr Laxman Pradhan.

“The state government’s desperation to keep the GJMM in good humour has become evident through its callousness vis-à-vis the Madan Tamang assassination case. We appealed to the chief minister several times since the new government was sworn in, praying for an appointment. But the CM has been maintaining a studied silence all through. We wonder whether the state government has decided to keep the matter under the carpet to keep alive its bonhomie with the GJMM. The inaction on the part of the CBI on the matter is even more bizarre. Perhaps all are linked in an invisible chain-to keep the existing Hill applecart intact by shielding the criminals from the purview of justice,” he said.

The AIGL leader said that his party would fight the GTA tooth and nail. “A majority of the common people across the Hills are not favourably inclined to the autonomous body. They are not expressing their real feeling because of the reign of terror the GJMM has let loose in the Hills. The GJMM swept the Assembly polls in the Hills because of the same fear psychosis,” Mr Pradhan said.